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EPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH 
COUNCIL 


THE  RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE 


By  Charles  H.  Herty 
Editor,  The  Journal  of  Industrial  and  Engineering  Chemistry 


&>• 


An  Address  delivered  under  the  Auspices  of  the  National  Research 
Council  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  February  21,  1921 


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REPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH  COUNCIL 

NUMBER  16 


THE  RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE* 
BY  CHARLES  H.  HERTY 

EDITOR,  The  Journal  of  Indusirial  and,  Engineering  Chemistry 

The  invitation  to  make  this  public  address,  coming  from  so 
distinguished  an  organization  as  the  National  Research  Council, 
is  an  honor  I  deeply  appreciate,  but  I  want  to  be  perfectly  frank, 
and  so  confess  that  in  accepting  I  was  moved  by  an  added  thought, 
namely,  that  this  occasion  offered  a  chance  to  narrate  to  you  a 
story  of  national  import,  consisting  of  several  chapters.  Too 
often  these  chapters  are  discussed  as  entities,  but  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  each  cannot  be  accurately  gauged  unless  it  be  con- 
sidered in  its  relation  to  the  subject  as  a  whole. 

Noting  that  there  was  to  be  in  connection  with  this  address  an 
exhibit  by  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service,  I  took  it  for  granted 
that  that  was  the  main  event  of  the  evening  and  that  I  was  to 
follow  my  usual  profession  of  calling  public  attention  to  American 
chemical  developments. 

I  have  chosen  as  my  subject  "The  Reserves  of  the  Chemical 
Warfare  Service."  It  is  not  difficult  for  you  to  guess  that  by 
reserves  are  meant  the  civilian  chemists  of  the  country  and  the 
chemical  industry.  In  order  that  we  may  understand  clearly 
the  function  and  the  role  of  the  reserves,  let  me  speak  briefly 
first  about  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  itself.  Now,  I  am 
going  to  speak  plainly  and  frankly  tonight.  My  purpose  is  to 
tell  you  of  certain  things  that  have  taken  place  in  the  past,  of 
certain  things  that  are  developing  and  going  on  today,  and  to 
let  you  draw  your  own  conclusions.  In  all  that  I  say  I  mean 
not  to  be  carpingly,  but  constructively  critical.  In  this  country 
of  representative  government  we  have  a  right  to  examine  critically 

*  An  address  delivered  under  the  auspices  of  the  National  Research  Council  at 
Washington,  D.  C.,  February  21,  19:21. 


2  RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL   WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

the  attitude  and  the  decisions  taken  by  our  public  men.  They 
are  our  representatives,  and  it  is  our  duty  fairly  but  fearlessly  to 
judge  their  acts. 

The  Chemical  Warfare  Service  was  not  born  at  home.  The 
natural  home  of  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  is  the  War  Depart- 
ment; but  after  the  battle  of  Ypres,  when  the  British  infantry 
suffered  such  fearful  destruction  from  the  waves  of  chlorine  gas, 
loosed  unexpectedly  by  the  Germans,  when  it  was  seen  that  gas 
was  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  war,  the  men  who  first  woke 
up  to  the  importance  of  this  new  form  of  warfare  were  not  in  the 
War  Department.  The  chemists  in  the  Bureau  of  Mines,  backed 
by  Dr.  Manning,  the  Director,  began  experimental  work.  Later 
began  the  erection  of  different  plants  under  various  divisions  of 
the  government,  and  finally  Secretary  Baker,  in  order  to  bring 
coordination  into  the  work,  wisely  recommended  to  the  President 
that  all  these  divisions  be  combined  into  one  organization: — the 
Chemical  Warfare  Service.  So  in  July  1919  the  consolidation 
of  all  these  different  parts  took  place,  under  the  authority  given 
in  the  Overman  Act.  When  the  full  history  of  this  war  is  written, 
I  think  one  of  the  outstanding  chapters  is  going  to  concern  the 
remarkable  results  obtained  in  research  at  American  University 
Experiment  Station,  and  at  Edgewood  Arsenal  in  the  building 
of  that  wonderful  plant.  It  was  not  the  fault  of  the  Chemical 
Warfare  Service  that  the  gas  made  at  Edgewood  Arsenal  was  not 
fired  at  the  enemy  in  American  shells.  Tons  of  gas  in  bulk  were 
shipped  to  the  allies.  Then  the  plants  lay  idle  for  months,  waiting 
only  for  shells  in  which  to  load  the  gas.  And  in  this  connection 
I  here  pay  tribute  to  a  class  of  men  who  have  never  received  public 
recognition  of  the  hazardous  service  they  performed  for  their 
country.  I  refer  to  the  chemists  who  manufactured  these  gases, 
inexperienced  as  to  the  dangers  attending  the  processes  while 
learning  the  methods;  men  who  were  gassed,  men  who  were  killed, 
not  in  the  thrill  of  battle,  not  under  the  glory  of  a  charge,  but 
back  here  in  the  steady  grind  of  preparing  the  material  for  the 
men  at  the  front.  They  went  into  hospitals  and  they  went  to  the 
grave,  serving  their  country  nobly  and  loyally. 

Now  another  interesting  historical  point.  The  WTar  Depart- 
ment was  slow  in  making  use  of  the  chemists'  services,  and  when 
the  armistice  came  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  was  immediately 
and  almost  completely  demobilized.  That  was  one  of  the  quickest 
operations  in  the  war.  All  right,  we  are  not  complaining;  but  it 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY          3 

does  stand  out  that  absolutely  no  effort  was  made  to  give  these 
men  a  chance  to  rehabilitate  themselves  in  the  industries.  They 
were  trudging  all  over  the  streets  of  New  York  looking  for  jobs. 

Last  year  came  the  question  of  the  reorganization  of  the  army, 
and  here  again  a  peculiar  situation  arose.  With  all  the  evidence 
before  us  as  to  the  importance  of  gases  in  war,  when  the  question 
of  reorganizing  the  army  was  taken  up  by  congressional  committees, 
what  was  the  proposal  from  the  head  of  the  War  Department? 
To  bury  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service — to  make  it  an  insignificant 
division  of  the  Engineer  Corps.  When  the  false  policy  involved 
in  that  proposition  had  been  made  clear,  an  attempt  was  made 
to  make  it  a  part  of  the  Ordnance  Department;  but  this  plan 
had  to  be  given  up  because  General  Williams,  the  Chief  of  Ord- 
nance, said  he  did  not  want  it  and  wouldn't  know  what  to  do  with 
it  if  he  had  it.  This  is  all  a  matter  of  public  record.  Fortunately, 
Congress  had  its  own  ideas  about  these  things,  and  so  when  the 
Army  Reorganization  Bill  was  finally  enacted,  the  Chemical  War- 
fare Service  stood  created  by  act  of  Congress  a  separate  unit  of 
the  army.  But  today  the  intent  of  Congress  is  being  nullified 
by  all  manner  of  restrictions  thrown  around  the  development  of 
this  branch  of  the  service.  Instructors  cannot  be  sent  to  the 
various  camps  to  train  our  men  in  gas  warfare.  The  camps  desire 
gas  troops;  they  cannot  be  sent.  In  that  great  training  school, 
Camp  Benning,  there  is  only  one  gas  officer,  and  his  recall  has  just 
been  issued.  I  am  talking  about  affairs  of  today.  This  is  not 
ancient  history.  This  is  what  is  occurring  at  the  present  time. 
Some  people  say,  "Why  worry  about  all  this  gas  warfare  stuff?1 
We  are  not  going  to  need  it  or  use  it."  Let  me  get  this  matter  of 
the  justification  of  gas  warfare  straight,  not  in  the  language  of 
members  of  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service,  not  in  language  of  my 
own;  but  let  us  go  back  and  take  the  words  of  congressmen.  I 
am  a  great  believer  in  Congress,  and  I  think  that  what  Congress 
thinks  and  feels  represents  the  average  views  of  the  people  of  this 
country.  Take  the  matter  of  Germany's  blame  for  initiating  gas 
warfare.  Mr.  Humphreys,1  in  the  course  of  debate  about  two 
weeks  ago,  made  the  point  clear: 

The  fact  is  the  sin  which  Germany  committed  was  not  in  using  the  gas 
itself,  but  because  she  had  agreed  with  the  nations  that  she  would  not 
use  poison  gas;  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  when  that  proposition 
was  made  the  representatives  of  the  United  States  refused  to  commit 

1  Congressional  Record,  60,  27(>li  (February  5,  1921). 


4          RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

the  United  States  to  that  policy,  and  so  it  happened  that  the  United  States 
refused  to  agree  not  to  use  poison  gas. 

He  was  absolutely  right.  It  was  a  breach  of  faith.  Mr.  Sisson,1 
also  in  that  debate,  said  this : 

"Germany  did  scrap  the  paper,  although  she  signed  the  agreement 
not  to  use  gas." 

Contrary  to  general  opinion,  gas  warfare  has  not  proved  in- 
humane. Here  again  let  us  turn  to  a  member  of  Congress  for 
confirmation.  Mr.  Humphreys2  further  said: 

"As  the  war  progressed  the  use  of  gas  became  general,  and  after  the 
war  was  over  we  were  able  to  assemble  the  facts  as  they  developed,  and 
they  show  that  one-third  of  the  battle  casualties  in  the  American  Army 
were  caused  by  gas,  and  less  than  4  per  cent  of  the  deaths  were  caused 
by  gas,  and  also  that  a  smaller  proportion  of  the  soldiers  who  were  put 
out  of  commission  by  gas  were  permanently  injured  than  of  those  that 
were  put  out  of  commission  by  the  other  offensive  means  of  warfare, 
with  shrapnel,  bullets,  and  so  forth.  And  so  it  appears  that  gas  is  not 
only  the  most  effective  weapon  in  war  but  the  most  humane.  It  puts 
the  enemy  out  of  commission,  yet  kills  a  less  percentage  of  his  men  than 
any  other  means  known. 

"For  that  reason,  despite  all  that  had  been  said  about  the  use  of  gas  in  war, 
when  we  came  to  reorganize  our  Army  after  the  war  we  provided  for 
the  continuance  and  for  the  further  development  of  the  Chemical  War- 
fare Service,  which  is  charged  with  the  responsibility  and  the  duty  of 
studying  all  the  various  methods  of  applying  this  destructive  weapon." 

But  now  let  me  turn  to  another  interesting  document.  I  want 
to  show  you  exactly  what  the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Army  said 
before  the  subcommittee  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs,  page  94  of  the  hearings.  Speaking  against  the  use  of 
gas  in  the  war,  General  March  said:3 

"When  I  was  in  France  I  saw  195  small  children  brought  in  from  about 
10  miles  from  the  rear  of  the  trenches  who  were  suffering  from  gas  in  their 
lungs,  innocent  little  children  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  game  at  all." 

My  friends,  if  you  have  time  before  you  leave  this  building,  go 
down  the  hall  leading  to  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  exhibit 
in  the  National  Museum,  and  you  will  see  on  the  walls  there  a 
painting,  a  most  startling  picture  showing  a  shell  from  a  long 
range  gun  breaking  through  the  walls  of  a  church  in  Paris  on 
Good  Friday,  and  killing  women  and  children  on  their  knees  in 
prayer.  Does  General  March  contend  that  artillery  must  be 
discontinued  ? 

1  Congressional  Record,  60,  2764. 

2  Ibid,  60,  2766. 

3  Hearings  on  S.  2691,  S.  2693,  and  S.  271  o,  66th  Congress,  page  94. 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY          5 

A  year  ago  last  October  I  stood  on  that  famous  Hill  No.  108 
at  Barry  au  Bac  near  Rheims  in  France.  It  is  not  a  large  hill. 
And  as  I  realized  that  right  underneath  me  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand men  were  buried  alive  as  a  result  of  the  thrice  repeated  mining 
of  that  hill,  the  terrible  character  of  modern  war  was  deeply  em- 
phasized. But  has  anyone  suggested  that  we  give  up  the  use  of 
explosives  for  mining?  It  is  all  horrible;  but  we  must  think  straight 
and  true  about  these  matters. 

As  to  the  future,  Secretary  of  War  Baker,1  at  the  Senate  hearings 
on  the  Army  Reorganization  Bill,  said : 

"My  own  belief  is  that  the  gas  warfare  will  not  be  permitted." 

At  the  same  hearings,  the  Chief  of  Staff,  General  March,2  said: 

"If  you  will  recall,  in  the  so-called  league  of  nations  text,  which  was 
published  the  other  day  by  the  United  States  Senate,  you  have  one  para- 
graph which  in  substance  says  this:  'The  use  of  poisonous  gases,  or  poi- 
sonous liquids,  being  prohibited  in  war,  Germany  must  not  import  into 
her  territory  any  such  things.'  If  that  means  anything,  it  means  that 
those  people  have  agreed  to  practically  abolish  chemical  warfare  gases." 

Since  those  hearings  were  held,  the  League  of  Nations  has  met  in 
Geneva,  and  the  permanent  advisory  commission  on  military 
and  naval  air  guns  reported3  as  follows : 

"It  is  useless  to  seek  to  restrict  the  use  of  gases  in  war  time  by  prohibiting 
manufacture  in  peace  time.  It  is  impossible  to  prohibit  laboratory 
experiments.  The  use  of  poison  gas  is  fundamentally  cruel,  but  no 
more  than  other  methods  if  it  is  used  against  combatants  only." 

The  League  of  Nations  has  met.  It  has  not  agreed  that  gas  war- 
fare should  be  abolished  and  so  we  stand  today  faced  with  the 
fact  that  this  new  method  of  warfare  is  going  to  be  developed, 
and  that  is  the  significance  of  our  Chemical  Warfare  Service  to 
this  nation. 

Now  just  a  few  words  regarding  the  make-up  of  the  Chemical 
Warfare  Service.  It  has  its  personnel,  composed  of  officers  and 
enlisted  men,  and  some  civilian  chemists  employed  at  Edgewood 
Arsenal  on  research.  It  has  its  plant — a.  wonderful  plant  located 
at  Edgewood — which  came  near  going  to  wrack  and  ruin  during 
the  months  immediately  following  the  armistice.  This  organiza- 
tion conforms  to  the  entire  spirit  of  what  the  nation  feels  should  be 
its  policy  as  to  military  forces : — namely,  a  small,  well-trained  mili- 
tary^group,  backed  by  a  trained  citizenry,  backed  in  this  case  by 

1  Senate  Hearings,  66th  Congress,  on  H.  R.  5227,  page  28. 

2  Ibid.,  page  42.     . 

'  New  York  Sun,  November  22,  1920. 


6          RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

the  civilian  chemists  of  the  country  and  by  our  great  chemical 
industry,  which  constitute  the  reserves  of  the  Chemical  Warfare 
Service. 

Now  a  few  words  regarding  these  reserves.  It  is  gratifying 
to  note  that  today  the  chemistry  courses  in  the  universities  are 
filled  with  students,  particularly  graduate  students  being  trained 
for  research  work.  Thanks  to  the  foresight  of  the  National  Re- 
search Council,  there  is  now  in  training  a  new  class  of  research 
workers,  the  post-doctorate  fellows  in  science,  men  who  have 
already  had  the  required  graduate  work  leading  to  the  Ph.D. 
degree,  and  are  continuing  their  training  in  research  for  a  further 
period  of  years.  Eventually  that  will  give  us  a  very  high  type 
of  research  worker.  The  value  of  the  stimulative  effect  of  funda- 
mental research  is  a  matter  we  have  not  yet  fully  grasped  in  this 
country.  As  you  look  back  through  the  history  of  the  science  of 
chemistry  and  note  Dalton's  work  on  atomic  weights,  Lavoisier's 
on  combustion,  Kekule's  conception  of  the  benzene  ring,  and  the 
electrolytic  dissociation  theory  of  Arrhenius,  you  see  the  mighty 
leaps  forward  taken  by  research  through  the  stimulation  of  these 
fundamental  conceptions.  In  each  case  industry  has  profited 
therefrom  directly  and  to  enormous  degree. 

It  is  in  the  chemical  industries  chiefly  that  this  personnel  reserve, 
these  civilian  chemists,  find  their  occupation.  Therefore,  the 
greater  the  industry,  the  more  flourishing  its  condition,  the  larger 
the  number  and  the  better  the  quality  of  our  civilian  reserves. 
The  most  interesting  thing,  however,  about  this  chemical  industry 
is  that  it  weaves  in  so  closely  with  matters  both  of  peace  and  of 
war.  The  problems  of  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  are  an 
integral  part  of  this  industry.  The  interesting  exhibit  on  this 
platform  brings  out  that  point  very  clearly.  There  are  the  sulfur 
mines  of  Louisiana,  this  material  being  converted  to  sulfuric 
acid  here.  Above  it  are  the  coal  mines  with  the  adjacent  by- 
product coke  ovens.  Here  on  this  side  is  a  plant  for  nitrogen 
fixation,  a  permanent  and  independent  source  of  nitric  acid.  One 
of  the  most  important  questions  before  this  nation  today  is  the 
right  solution  of  that  problem.  Over  here  is  the  salt  well.  The 
brine  from  that  well  is  taken  to  this  plant,  where  it  is  made  into 
chlorine  and  caustic  soda.  Now  all  of  these  products  are  brought 
together  in  this  large  central  plant,  which  represents  a  factory 
for  the  manufacture  of  "intermediates."  These  intermediates  are 
distributed  to  four  finishing  plants,  rightly  located  side  by  side, 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY          7 

for  they  are  very  closely  related  in  the  operations  involved.  On 
the  left  is  a  plant  for  manufacturing  high  explosives,  such  as  TNT 
and  picric  acid;  next  is  a  plant  for  synthetic  medicinals,  where 
aspirin,  salvarsan,  phenacetin  and  related  products  are  made; 
adjoining  this  is  a  plant  representing  Edgewood  Arsenal,  where 
poison  gases  for  warfare  can  be  turned  out  by  the  ton;  and  there  is  a 
synthetic  dye  plant,  with  its  multiplicity  of  brilliantly  colored 
products,  supplying  industries  whose  annual  turnover  mounts 
into  billions  of  dollars.  All  of  these  four  plants  are  quickly  con- 
vertible, one  into  another.  I  like  this  exhibit  of  the  Chemical 
Warfare  Service  for  it  brings  home  how  intimately  the  work  of 
that  Service  is  bound  up  with  these  works  of  peace.  Surely  you 
see  the  force  of  the  argument  that  as  these  works  of  peace  prosper 
the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  becomes  potentially  all  the  stronger? 
It  is  a  perfectly  legitimate  argument.  It  is  the  truth. 

There  is  one  all-important  thing  about  our  chemical  industry — 
it  must  be  complete.  You  remember  the  shortages  that  existed 
in  this  country  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war.  These  shortages 
occurred  chiefly  in  the  organic  chemical  industry,  and  particularly 
in  the  coal-tar  chemical  industry. 

The  urgent  demand  of  the  Allies  for  high  explosives  at  any  price 
in  the  early  part  of  the  war  resulted  in  great  American  activity 
in  the  installation  of  by-product  coke  ovens,  thereby  insuring  a 
future  adequate  supply  of  "crudes"  as  a  foundation  for  this  industry. 
Then  came  the  blockade  of  German  ports  and  the  consequent 
cessation  of  imports  of  dyes,  medicinals,  photographic  chemicals, 
perfumes  and  flavors,  all  products  of  the  coal-tar  chemical  industry. 
The  pressing  shortage  of  these  products  led  to  economic  distress 
and  urgent  demand  for  the  development  of  a  complete  domestic 
industry. 

Though  progress  was  slow  for  quite  a  while,  the  whole  movement 
was  speeded  up  by  the  conviction  on  the  part  of  the  Alien  Property 
Custodian,  Judge  Palmer,  and  his  colleague,  Mr.  Garvan,  that 
German  patents  had  been  taken  out  in  this  country  chiefly  for 
the  purpose  of  throttling  the  development  of  a  competing  industry. 
In  the  administration  of  the  Trading-with-the-Enemy  Act  it 
became  evident  that  many  of  the  German  plants  being  sold  were 
practically  worthless  because  the  patents  under  which  the  plants 
had  been  operating  were  not  available.  Congress  therefore  amended 
the  Act  and  gave  the  Custodian  power  to  seize  the  enemy-owned 
patents.  The  sale  of  the  first  large  group  of  these  patents  made 


8          RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

evident  the  possibility,  through  subsequent  sales,  of  developing 
an  American  monopoly.  Thereupon  the  remaining  patents  were 
sold,  under  Executive  authorization,  to  the  Chemical  Foundation, 
Inc.,  a  non-profit-making  corporation  whose  surplus  earnings  are 
to  be  devoted  to  furthering  scientific  research.  This  organization 
grants  non-exclusive  licenses  to  manufacture  to  any  qualified 
American  citizen  or  corporation.  Some  day  when  the  history 
of  this  period  is  written,  a  special  chapter  should  be  devoted  to 
the  work  of  one  man.  He  is  not  a  chemist;  he  is  a  lawyer,  a  public 
officer.  I  refer  to  Mr.  Francis  P.  Garvan,  the  President  of  the 
Chemical  Foundation.  He  is  going  to  prove  one  of  the  permanent 
benefactors  of  the  American  chemical  industry. 

Let  me  now  make  just  one  other  thing  clear  to  you  in  this  con- 
nection, because  it  will  illustrate  a  point  I  want  to  make  a  little 
later.  I  want  to  contrast  to  you  the  conditions  of  the  American 
coal-tar  industry  as  compared  with  conditions  in  Germany.  In 
the  first  place,  in  Germany  absolute  unification  of  the  industry 
has  taken  place,  not  only  permitted  by  the  government  authorities, 
but  absolutely  encouraged  by  them.  Under  action  taken  during 
the  last  few  months,  this  policy  of  complete  combination  is  to  be 
continued  until  the  year  2000.  In  this  country  the  Sherman 
Anti-Trust  Law  would  not  permit  anything  of  that  kind.  Another 
thing :  In  Germany  most  of  the  plants  are  located  along  the  Rhine ; 
the  transportation  of  material  from  one  plant  to  another  is  therefore 
simple.  Our  plants  are  scattered  over  a  wide  expanse  of  country. 
It  is  a  distinct  disadvantage  to  us.  There  they  have  forty  years 
of  experience  in  these  matters;  here  we  have  scarcely  more  than 
four.  There  they  have  a  national  currency  which  has  depreciated 
to  about  one-fifteenth  of  its  normal  value;  here  we  have  the  most 
expensive  money  in  the  world.  When  I  think  of  these  conditions 
it  is  marvelous  what  the  American  chemist  has  accomplished  within 
the  past  four  years. 

In  addition  to  the  handicaps  just  mentioned,  our  new-born 
coal-tar  chemical  industry  has  been  seriously  retarded  during  the 
last  six  months  by  two  other  conditions.  In  the  first  place,  it 
has  been  dull  times  for  all  industries,  and  this  new  industry  has 
suffered.  Right  here  I  want  to  sound  a  note  of  warning,  it  We 
have  been  preaching  the  gospel  of  industrial  research.  We  hear 
it  on  many  lips.  New  research  laboratories  have  sprung  up  every- 
where. Yet  when  dull  times  came,  a  number  of  corporations 
began  the  process  of  curtailment  in  their  research  laboratories. 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY          9 

Conviction  as  to  the  permanent  value  of  research  was  not  deep. 
Fortunately,  only  a  limited  number  have  slipped  back  in  this  way. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  have  been  others  who  have  kept  their 
research  forces  intact,  and  as  the  days  go  by  that  foresighted 
policy  is  going  to  tell  in  the  race  for  success. 

In  the  second  place,  delay  in  the  enactment  by  Congress  of 
protective  legislation  has  created  an  atmosphere  of  uncertainty 
as  to  the  future  which  has  slowed  up  progress  all  along  the  line. 
Effective  legislation  was  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives 
a  year  and  a  half  ago.  I  was  in  Frankfort,  Germany,  on  October 
28,  1919,  in  the  office  of  Herr  Dr.  von  Weinberg,  head  of  the  Ger- 
man dye  trust,  and  during  the  interview  which  I  was  having  with 
him  an  office  boy  brought  in  the  morning  paper,  the  Frankforter 
Nachrichten,  and  it  happened  that  the  doctor's  eye  fell  on  an 
article  placed  prominently  on  the  front  page.  He  looked  at  it 
and  his  face  dropped.  He  handed  me  the  paper,  and  I  read  that 
the  House  of  Representatives  had  passed  the  Long  worth  Dye  Bill 
by  a  vote  of  156  to  119.  He  thought  that  that  was  definitely 
enacted  legislation,  and  he  realized  that  it  meant  a  real  death 
blow  to  the  future  domination  of  this  industry  by  Germany.  But 
as  I  read  it  I  realized  the  fact  that  that  was  only  the  vote  of  the 
House.  "It  is  not  finished  yet,"  I  said  to  the  doctor.  "It  still 
has  to  pass  the  Senate,"  and  I  did  not  realize  with  what  prophetic 
vision  I  spoke  at  that  time,  because  it  still  has  to  pass  the  Senate. 
I  have  analyzed  that  vote  in  the  House,  and  found  an  interesting 
point  which  has  never  been  brought  out  in  public  discussion. 
While  the  final  recorded  vote  in  the  House  was  156  to  119,  do  you 
know  that  there  were  only  ten  members  of  the  House  who  voted 
against  the  licensing  feature  of  the  Longworth  Bill?  Ten  out  of 
four  hundred  and  thirty-five  members.  It  happened  in  this  way: 
Just  before  the  bill  was  put  to  the  final  vote,  Mr.  Kitchin,  the 
democratic  leader,  offered  a  substitute  bill,  identical  with  the 
Longworth  measure  except  as  to  tariff  rates.  All  of  the  demo- 
crats voted  for  this,  but  the  republicans  defeated  it.  In  the 
following  vote  on  the  Longworth  bill  the  democrats  and  ten 
republicans  voted  against  it,  while  the  votes  in  its  favor  were 
solidly  republican.  Thus  the  license  feature  was  endorsed  by 
this  great  non-partisan  majority  of  the  House.  Then  the  bill 
went  to  the  Senate,  where  extensive  hearings  were  held.  The 
members  of  the  Senate  subcommittee  at  first  were  against  the 
license  idea.  They  said  so  frankly.  But  the  case  was  so 


10         RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

thoroughly  and  convincingly  presented  that  the  bill  received  a 
unanimous  report.  It  then  went  before  the  entire  Senate  Finance 
Committee  and  received  the  favorable  vote  of  all  the  members  of 
the  Committee  except  one.  Then  it  came  up  in  the  Senate  and 
was  talked  to  death.  You  all  know  the  story.  I  don't  question 
the  sincerity  of  anybody's  motives;  but  I  will  tell  you  what  my 
feeling  is :  The  man  who  stands  in  the  way  of  protective  legislation 
for  this  industry,  so  closely  united  with  the  national  defense,  takes 
upon  himself  a  very  grave  responsibility. 

We  are  told  there  is  nothing  to  fear.  We  are  told  that  a  tariff 
alone  is  sufficient;  that  we  do  not  need  an  embargo.  Every  time 
someone  bobs  up  and  says:  "A  tariff  alone  is  sufficient,"  all  the 
importers  of  German  dyes  say,  "Yes.  Give  them  all  the  tariff 
they  want,"  and  they  say  it  so  freely  because  they  know  that 
tariff  alone  will  not  protect  this  industry.  They  know  that  under 
conditions  as  they  exist  they  can  continue  their  business  of  im- 
porting dyes.  That  is  what  they  are  interested  in,  and  every 
bit  of  it  will  be  at  the  expense  of  our  industry.  The  question  is, 
how  much  value  do  we  place  on  that  industry?  There  are  those 
who  say,  "Why,  Germany  cannot  get  busy  in  this  game  again. 
She  is  poor.  She  is  disrupted  and  has  no  raw  material."  I  want 
to  tell  you  this,  that,  according  to  press  dispatches  from  Paris, 
the  dye  experts  of  the  Reparation  Commission  report  that  in 
January,  last  month  I  mean,  the  output  of  the  German  dye  plants 
was  12,000  tons,  which  is  750  tons  more  than  the  pre-war  monthly 
average.  Of  course  they  have  the  raw  material.  Of  course  their 
chemical  industries  are  thriving.  The  whole  force  of  the  nation 
is  back  of  them,  and  those  figures  mean  that  the  chemical  war  is 
on  and  that  we  must  take  into  consideration  how  it  is  to  be  met. 
It  has  been  met  so  far,  fortunately,  by  the  order  of  the  President, 
President  Wilson,  continuing  the  Trading-with-the-Enemy  Act 
in  its  control  over  imports  of  products  of  the  coal-tar  industry, 
and  that  is  the  one  and  only  protection  which  the  industry  has 
had  up  to  this  time,  since  the  blockade  was  lifted.  I  have  heard 
statements  made  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate  that  the  industry 
has  prospered  under  the  present  tariff  rates.  I  see  some  in  the 
audience  smile,  because  they  know  that  those  tariff  rates  have  not 
had  the  slightest  effect,  for  when  the  law  was  enacted  which  con- 
tained the  present  tariff  rates  the  blockade  of  German  ports  was 
on,  and  ever  since  the  blockade  was  lifted  the  Trading-with-the- 
Enemy  Act  has  kept  out  all  dyes  of  enemy  origin,  except  such  as 
have  been  admitted  bv  license. 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY       11 

An  interesting  thing  appeared  in  the  newspapers  a  few  days  ago. 
A  dispatch  from  Berlin  dated  February  11,  1921,  stated  that 
a  tremendous  German  propaganda  is  getting  under  way  for  the 
purpose  of  showing  by  documentary  evidence,  prepared  in  the 
usual  thorough  manner,  that  there  is  no  purpose  or  ability  on  the 
part  of  Germany  to  dump  cheap  chemicals  in  this  market.  The 
only  trouble  about  the  demonstration  is  that  before  they  have 
compiled  their  statistics  their  biggest  dyestuff  plant  has  plumped 
down  in  this  country  1300  tons  of  sodium  nitrite,  which  is  a  year 
and  a  half's  supply  for  all  our  dye  factories,  at  prices  below  the 
prevailing  American  market  rates.  It  is  here  today,  and  our 
friends  out  in  the  northwest,  in  the  state  of  Washington,  where 
sodium  nitrite  is  manufactured,  realize  it.  And  so  when  people 
tell  me  that  Germany  is  not  active,  I  want  to  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  she  is  producing  more  dyes  today  than  she  ever 
did  before  in  her  history,  and  that  she  is  already  flooding  our 
market  with  those  of  her  products  on  which  there  are  no  import 
restrictions. 

But  even  if  adequate  legislation  is  enacted  to  insure  the  per- 
manency of  our  coal-tar  chemical  industry,  it  is  not  sound  national 
policy  to  require  the  Chemical  Warfare  Sendee  to  depend  solely 
upon  its  reserves.  There  is  important  research  to  be  carried  on 
which  should  be  done  only  in  the  laboratories  of  the  Service;  there 
is  a  $30,000,000  plant  at  Edgewood  to  be  maintained;  and  there 
is  fundamental  instruction  to  be  given  the  army  in  matters  per- 
taining to  chemical  warfare.  All  of  this  requires  money  and  such 
funds  can  be  provided  only  by  congressional  appropriation.  This 
year  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service  had  at  its  disposal  five  and  one- 
half  million  dollars.  General  Fries  and  his  associates  studied  the 
situation  carefully,  and  felt  in  the  interest  of  economy,  knowing 
the  need  of  saving,  that  that  amount  could  be  cut  down  this  year 
to  four  and  one-half  million  dollars,  and  asked  for  it.  Mind  you 
now,  that  does  not  provide  for  the  manufacture  of  a  supply  of 
masks  for  our  army.  Today  it  has  no  masks  of  the  latest  im- 
proved type,  and  but  a  limited  supply  of  any  kind  of  mask.  They 
asked  for  four  and  one-half  million  dollars,  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives cut  that  down  to  a  million  and  a  half.  One  and  one- 
half  million  dollars  only,  to  keep  pace  with  the  developments  in 
this  important  branch  of  modern  warfare  which  the  rest  of  the 
world  is  going  to  continue  to  develop.  Do  you  know  what  that 
amount  represents?  Only  two-tenths  of  one  per  cent  of  the  total 


12        RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

amount  appropriated  for  our  fighting  forces  is  available  for  gas 
warfare,  and  yet  30  per  cent  of  our  casualties  were  from  gases. 
Those  are  figures  for  us  to  think  about.  They  say  statistics  are 
not  exciting.  Here  is  something  which  may  not  be  exciting,  but 
it  is  distressing.  Are  we  going  to  slip  back?  How  long  are  we 
going  to  slight  this  question?  Have  you  thought  of  what  it  may 
mean  when  aviation  and  gas  warfare  are  combined?  Did  you 
read  General  Mitchell's1  testimony  before  the  Naval  Committee? 
He  told  them: 

"Nobody  used  gas  in  Europe  because  the  air  forces  were  so  nearly 
equal  that  if  one  had  started  it  the  other  would  have  immediately  started. 
Everybody  was  ready  to  start  it,  and  if  it  had  been  started  the  losses 
would  have  been  something  terrific." 

This  statement  is  plain  and  deeply  significant.  Yet  we  propose 
to  slip  backward  in  this  matter  both  in  aviation  and  in  chemical 
warfare,  when  the  one  thing  that  prevented  this  method  of  warfare 
was  equilibrium.  I  want  to  tell  you  that  the  best  way  to  prevent 
this  combination  is  not  that  there  should  be  equilibrium,  but  that 
that  country  which  introduced  gas  warfare  shall  know  that  America 
is  stronger  than  she  is  both  in  aviation  and  means  of  gas  warfare. 
If  this  is  not  done,  it  will  not  be  a  matter  of  making  masks  for  the 
army  alone,  but  for  all  citizens— men,  women,  and  children.  We 
must  not  shut  our  eyes  to  these  things.  This  matter  is  right  before 
us. 

Turning  again  to  the  coal-tar  chemical  industry,  I  think  we  are 
all  agreed  on  one  thing,  namely,  that  this  industry  is  a  valuable 
asset  to  our  war-making  forces,  that  the  dye  industry,  to  be  specific, 
is  an  efficient  reserve  of  the  Chemical  Warfare  Service.  General 
Sibert,  the  former  chief  of  that  Service,  has  said  so  before  congres- 
sional committees;  General  Fries  has  testified  likewise;  the  state- 
ment has  frequently  been  made  on  the  floors  of  the  Senate  and 
House;  and  the  press  throughout  the  country  is  constantly  saying 
so.  I  have  known  but  two  people  connected  with  the  industry 
to  say  otherwise.  One  of  them  was  Dr.  B.  C.  Hesse,  of  New  York 
City,  in  an  address  before  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Philadelphia. 
His  statement  was  eagerly  taken  up  by  a  small  group  of  textile 
manufacturers  and  by  all  of  the  importers  of  dyes,  and  a  great 
deal  was  made  of  it.  But  do  you  know  that  Dr.  Hesse's  address 
has  never  yet  been  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Franklin  Insti- 

1  Supplement  to  Hearings  before  Subcommittee  of  House  Committee  on  Appro- 
priations, Naval  Appropriation  Bill  for  1922,  Aviation,  page  6. 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY       13 

tute  and  that  it  never  will  be  so  published?  I  am  so  informed  by 
officers  of  the  Institute.  And  do  you  know  that  this  week  Dr. 
M.  T.  Bogert,  a  past  president  of  the  American  Chemical  Society, 
gave  by  invitation  a  lecture  before  this  same  Franklin  Institute, 
setting  forth  the  close  connection  between  this  industry  and  our 
war-making  power?  Dr.  Hesse  went  wrong.  I  am  sorry,  because 
it  does  not  do  for  a  man  in  his  position  to  go  wrong  on  this  subject. 
It  is  too  deeply,  too  intimately  bound  up  in  the  question  of  the 
security  of  this  nation. 

Who  was  the  other  man  I  heard  say  it?  Dr.  von  Weinberg, 
the  head  of  the  German  dye  trust,  and  he  said  it  to  me  on  the  day 
representatives  of  the  allies  met  with  the  Germans  in  Versailles 
in  October,  1919,  to  discuss  the  question  of  delivery  of  reparation 
dyes  under  the  terms  of  the  Peace  Treaty.  After  the  formal  con- 
ference was  ended,  I  had  a  personal  conference  with  Dr.  von  Wein- 
berg and  his  associates.  We  finished  our  business  in  about  ten 
minutes  and  then  chatted  for  a  little  while.  In  the  course  of  the 
conversation  he  said,  "I  think  it  is  very  unfortunate  that  people 
in  America  talk  so  much  about  the  connection  between  dyes  and 
gas  warfare."  You  know,  I  am  very  fond  of  talking,  and  I  confess 
I  was  never  so  eager  to  talk;  but  I  had  to  hold  my  tongue.  I  was 
getting  dyes  from  him  for  America  and  the  success  of  my  mission 
was  more  important  than  argument.  He  was  trying  to  make 
me  believe  what  he  said,  when  he  knew  even  better  than  I  did 
that  those  plants  over  which  he  had  control  had  turned  out  prac- 
tically every  pound  of  poison  gas  used  by  the  Germans  throughout 
the  whole  war.  And  yet  he  tried  to  make  me  think  that  America 
was  very  foolish  to  even  consider  the  possible  connection  between 
dyes  and  gas  warfare ! 

As  a  nation  we  have  grasped  this  thought  of  the  intimate  con- 
nection between  dyes  and  poison  gases,  but  the  thought  is  static; 
it  is  not  dynamic.  We  have  not  thought  this  thing  through,  and 
I  want  you  here  tonight  to  think  it  through  with  me,  and  see 
what  is  the  logical  next  step. 

We  are  still  technically  at  war  with  Germany.  By  the  terms 
of  the  Treaty  of  Peace  which  she  signed  with  the  Allies,  she  is 
the  defeated  nation.  In  That  treaty,  provision  was  made  for  her 
disarmament.  Battleships,  forts,  submarines,  and  guns  were 
surrendered.  But  what  about  those  potential  arsenals,  the  dye 
plants?  They  have  not  been  touched.  Today  they  are  stronger 
than  ever,  stronger  by  the  increased  number  of  buildings  and  men 


14        RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

employed  throughout  the  war.  Not  touched.  Why?  I  asked 
that  question  in  Paris  at  one  of  our  conferences,  and  what  was  the 
answer?  Europe  wanted  it  done,  wanted  those  surplus  dye  plants 
destroyed,  but  American  influence  prevented  it.  That  statement 
was  made  directly  to  me,  and  since  I  came  back  it  has  been  con- 
firmed by  Americans  who  were  there.  It  was  our  influence  that 
left  those  dye  plants  untouched,  which  means  those  poison  gas 
and  high  explosives  plants.  Under  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  the 
manufacture  of  explosives  and  poison  gas  is  not  allowed.  What 
difference  does  that  make  as  long  as  the  plants  are  intact?  The 
resumption  of  work  in  those  plants  is  a  matter  of  only  a  few  hours. 
American  influence  prevented  their  razing,  on  the  ground  that  they 
were  capable  of  turning  out  products  of  peace-time  use.  Let  us 
see  what  the  actual  situation  is.  Before  the  war  Germany  alone 
supplied  practically  the  whole  world  with  dyes,  and  now  has  a 
greater  dye-producing  capacity  than  ever.  In  the  meantime  we 
have  developed  an  industry  to  take  care  of  our  needs.  England 
through  legislation  just  passed  has  expressed  her  determination 
to  take  care  of  her  own  needs  and  those  of  her  colonies.  France 
is  doing  the  same  thing.  Japan  is  working  to  the  same  end.  We 
are  faced  today  with  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great  over-capacity 
for  dye  production  in  the  world.  The  peace  product  argument 
falls,  and  as  long  as  those  German  dye  plants  stand  they  constitute 
the  gravest  threat  against  the  future  peace  of  the  world.  So  I 
say  with  all  possible  emphasis  that  those  plants,  not  needed  for 
Germany's  domestic  supplies,  should  be  destroyed,  as  were  her 
other  means  of  making  war.  But  you  may  ask  under  what  author- 
ity can  this  be  done?  Sections  168  and  169  of  the  Treaty  of  Ver- 
sailles cover  the  case  amply,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  dye  plants 
but  those  other  two  classes  of  war  chemical  plants  of  which  Germany 
now  has  so  great  a  surplus  over  the  requirements  of  domestic 
consumption,  namely,  sulfuric  acid  and  atmospheric  nitrogen 
fixation  plants.  Why  should  the  world  subject  itself  to  the  danger 
that  lies  in  those  seats  of  poison  gas  and  high  explosive  manu- 
facture on  the  theoretical  ground  that  they  make  peace-time 
products,  when  the  world  does  not  need  those  peace-time  products? 
There  is  serious  thought  here  for  the  incoming  President  and  his 
advisors  when  they  come  to  formulate  the  terms  of  our  peace- 
making with  Germany. 

This   matter   of   the   chemical   disarmament   of   Germany   goes 
very,  very  deep.     We  talk  a  great  deal  about  the  possibility  of 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY       15 

Germany  getting  hold  of  the  natural  resources  of  Russia.  Did 
you  notice  in  the  papers  a  few  days  ago,  in  the  statistics  given 
out  by  our  War  Department,  that  Bolshevist  Russia  has  the  largest 
standing  army  in  the  world,  one  and  a  half  million  men?  Don't 
you  remember  reading  in  the  papers  a  few  months  ago  that  much 
of  the  success  of  the  Bolshevist  forces  against  those  of  General 
Wrangel  were  due  to  poison  gas  and  also  that  in  many  cases  the 
red  forces  were  led  by  German  officers?  Do  you  imagine  that  the 
gas  was  manufactured  in  Russia?  Russia  has  now  no  chemical 
industry.  My  friends,  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  whole  ten- 
dency of  present  development  in  poison  gas  warfare  is  to  get  away 
from  the  old  methods  of  projection,  and  that  we  are  just  on  the 
threshold  of  these  new  developments. 

Visualize  that  red  army  of  Russia,  fully  armed  with  the  gases 
that  can  be  made  in  German  dye  plants.  There  is  a  real  threat. 
In  this  connection  I  want  to  read  you  a  statement  that  appeared 
in  the  London  Times  of  December  30,  1920.  According  to  the 
program  of  the  German,  Hungarian  and  Russian  reactionaries, 
prepared  in  Budapest  on  June  22,  "the  manufacture  of  new  forms 
of  arms  and  ammunition  will  be  undertaken,  Germany  providing 
the  machinery,  raw  materials,  and  personnel." 

One  of  two  things  must  be  done,  if  we  Americans  are  not  entirely 
asleep.  Either  we  must  develop  in  this  country  a  stronger  chem- 
ical industry  than  Germany  has,  because  that  is  the  one  argument 
she  respects — the  argument  of  superior  force — or  we  must  see  to 
it  that  those  surplus  German  dye  plants  are  destroyed. 

I  have  no  interest  in  dyes  as  articles  of  commerce,  except  insofar 
as  an  adequate  domestic  supply  may  insure  our  economic  inde- 
pendence. The  day  should  never  come  again  when  a  foreign 
ambassador  can  cable  to  his  home  government,  as  von  Bernstorff 
did,  that  if  the  supply  of  dyes  were  cut  off  it  would  be  possible 
to  throw  out  of  employment  four  million  American  workmen. 
I  pray  God  we  may  never  have  to  make  the  slightest  use  of  the 
Chemical  Warfare  Service;  that  we  may  never  again  be  engaged 
in  war;  but  if  national  policy  demands  that  we  have  the  nucleus 
of  an  army,  then  that  army  should  be  properly  equipped  with  the 
best  modern  means  of  waging  war. 

There  is  another  chapter  to  this  story.  Dyes  may  be  desirable; 
poison  gas  may  be  necessary;  but  there  is  a  higher  goal  for  the 
organic  chemist.  These  bodies  of  ours  are  masses  of  organic 
chemical  compounds  undergoing  constant  change.  When  these 


10        RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY 

reactions  are  normal  we  speak  of  health;  when  abnormal,  sickness, 
disease  and  suffering  constitute  the  daily  reports  from  these  human 
factories.  How  little  we  know  about  the  prevention  of  this  ab- 
normality or  its  restitution  to  normality.  We  have  stumbled 
along  through  the  ages,  gleaning  here  and  there,  all  too  frequently 
by  purely  empirical  methods,  some  curative  means.  Our  annual 
drug  bill  is  $500,000,000.  You  know  how  great  a  per  cent  of 
this  is  spent  in  vain.  Silent  but  effective  testimony  as  to  the 
inadequacy  of  many  medicaments  is  given  by  the  custom  among 
the  negroes  of  the  South  Carolina  coast  of  placing  upon  newly  made 
graves  of  departed  ones  the  partly  emptied  bottles  of  medicine 
which  were  used,  alas,  ineffectually.  Think  of  the  mighty  effort 
made  during  the  war  to  defend  our  forces  in  the  field  from  the 
poison  gas  of  the  enemy;  then  contrast  the  number  of  deaths  on 
the  battlefield  with  those  from  the  ravages  of  influenza  in  the 
training  camps.  Add  to  this  the  annual  death  rate  from  cancer, 
tuberculosis,  pneumonia,  and  other  diseases,  and  how  frightful  a 
toll,  what  an  enormous  amount  of  sorrow,  suffering  and  inefficiency 
must  be  laid  at  the  door  of  our  ignorance  of  these  bodily  chemical 
reactions ! 

Why  this  seeming  indifference  to  the  application  of  chemistry 
to  problems  so  essentially  chemical,  on  which  hourly  the  question 
of  life  or  death  hangs?  In  the  medieval  ages  chemistry  was  con- 
cerned solely  with  the  question  of  medicinals,  the  chemist  and  the 
physician  cooperated ;  then  their  ways  parted,  the  physician  turning 
to  fanciful  nostrums,  while  the  chemist  bent  his  energies  to  increasing 
wealth.  Think  of  the  human  suffering  involved  in  one  single 
instance:  Ether  was  discovered  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  it 
was  not  until  1846  that  its  value  as  an  anaesthetic  became  known. 

In  recent  years  the  science  of  bacteriology  has  made  tremendous 
strides  and  the  results  have  proved  of  incalculable  benefit  to  the 
race.  Yet  as  one  reads  the  admirable  resume  of  the  progress  in 
this  science  given  by  Dr.  Simon  Flexner  in  his  presidential  address 
at  the  last  meeting  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  one  cannot  but  feel  that  after  all  the  bacteriologist 
has  been  working  in  purely  mechanical  and  often  ill-defined  ways 
upon  questions  primarily  chemical.  In  Toronto  last  year  I  visited 
that  beautiful  farm  and  laboratory  where  the  sera  were  prepared 
which  supplied  practically  all  of  the  allied  armies.  I  was  shown 
the  horses  which  were  being  subjected  to  inoculation  and  subse- 
quent tapping,  and  then  the  laboratory  where  the  sera  are  prepared. 
I  asked  the  Director  whether  he  was  not  making  certain  definite 


RESERVES  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  WARFARE  SERVICE:  HERTY       17 

chemical  compounds  about  which  he  knew  practically  nothing. 
He  admitted  it.  In  spite  of  the  care  in  all  of  the  work  the  methods 
seemed  clumsy  and  haphazard  in  comparison  with  the  equipment 
and  definiteness  of  the  character  of  the  research  work  on  some  of 
the  complicated  dyes. 

Chemistry  has  shirked,  partly  because  of  the  inherent  difficulties 
of  the  work,  partly  because  of  inadequately  trained  workers,  and 
because  large  financial  rewards  are  not  to  be  expected.  We  have 
gone  heavily  into  that  aspect  of  chemistry  which  makes  wealth, 
we  have  concentrated  our  efforts  on  its  application  in  making 
war,  and  we  have  given  but  slight  attention  to  its  application  in 
the  alleviation  of  suffering. 

There  is  the  goal  I  hope  to  see  set  for  chemistry  in  this  country; 
dyes,  incidentally,  yes;  poison  gas,  as  a  means  of  national  security, 
yes;  but  above  all,  the  solution  of  those  intensely  intricate  problems 
which  will  conserve  the  health  of  our  people.  There  may  be  new 
drugs  developed,  but  the  chief  result  of  that  work  should  be  to 
decrease  the  use  of  drugs.  How  is  such  work  to  be  supported? 
That  is  where  my  confidence  in  the  big  heart  of  America  lies.  If 
we  can  ever  make  our  men  of  means  see  the  correctness  of  this 
viewpoint,  I  have  no  doubt  that  funds  in  abundance  will  be  found 
to  endow  institutions  where  these  questions,  strictly  chemical 
in  their  nature,  shall  be  studied  by  chemists,  not  alone  of  course, 
but  in  cooperation  with  pharmacologists,  biologists,  and  physicians. 
When  that  day  comes,  we  will  then  realize  that  the  greatest  peace 
asset  we  have  gained  from  the  recent  war  is  the  demonstration 
made  at  American  University  Experiment  Station  of  what  tre- 
mendous speed  and  progress  can  be  made  in  research,  when  different 
types  of  men  and  training  are  brought  together  under  one  roof  and 
in  daily  contact  with  each  other,  all  focusing  their  minds  on  the 
problems  connected  with  the  chemistry  of  the  body.  The  glory 
I  would  like  to  claim  for  my  country  is  that  through  its  generous 
idealism  it  may  lead  in  this  higher  utilization  of  chemistry,  for 
in  doing  that  America  will  make  the  world  its  debtor,  not  in 
dollars  but  in  blessings  bestowed. 


Bulletin  of  the  National  Research  Council 

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1918.     Pages  16. 


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